Building “elite, compact, and strong” armed forces with high combat power, as stated in Resolution No.230-NQ/QUTW issued on 2nd April 2022 by the Central Military Commission, is an important and foundational aspect of the process of constructing a revolutionary, regular, proficient, and modern People’s Army. Therefore, the entire army, in general, and the armed forces of Military Region 4, in particular, need to concentrate on thoroughly grasping and implementing this objective through resolute and synchronised measures to create a steady change in enhancing the overall quality and combat power and fulfiling assigned tasks.

Military Region 4 is based and operates in the North Central region, with a land border of 1,162 kilometers, neighbouring Laos and a maritime border of 644 kilometers. Thanks to the vital national North-South transportation system (including railways, National Highway 1, and Ho Chi Minh Road) passing through and the East-West road axes (National Highways 7, 8, 9, and 12) connecting to Laos, Military Region 4, as a bridge between the North and the South, holds a crucial strategic position in the national liberation cause as well as in the construction and defence of the Fatherland. Deeply understanding this significance, over the past years, under the leadership and guidance of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence, its Party Committee and High Command have consistently and closely coordinated with the local Party committees and authorities of the six provinces in effectively carrying out military and defence tasks; building in-depth and essential armed forces and solid defence areas at the provincial, district, and Military Region levels; and effectively handling situations related to defence and security, avoiding passivity and surprise in all circumstances. Particularly, following the Central Military Commission’s issuance of Resolution No.230-NQ/QUTW regarding the organisation of the Vietnam People’s Army in the 2021-2030 period and beyond, the Military Region’s Party Committee and High Command have thoroughly disseminated and developed specialised leadership resolutions, Resolution implementation plans, and plans for breakthrough stages on “Force adjustment; enhancement of training quality, education, and training; and steadfast transition in regularity building and discipline observance”. Simultaneously, they have directed the Party committees and commanders of agencies and units, and localities to grasp and elaborate the Military Region Party Committee’s undertakings, solutions, and guidance into resolutions, programs, and annual and periodic work plans. To ensure the highest effectiveness, during the implementation process, the Military Region has required the Party committees and commanders of agencies, units, and local authorities to ensure substantive and effective implementation of breakthrough stages, avoiding formalism, while linking the implementation with the leadership of the central political task and the Determined-to-Win Emulation Movement and perform well ideological work to have a firm grasp of the internal situation and promptly detect and handle emerging issues to prevent negative occurrences, disputes, and complaints.

With high determination and scientific and appropriate solutions, the organisation of the Military Region’s armed forces has been fundamentally adjusted according to the decisions of the Ministry, ensuring a balanced and relatively cohesive structure between agencies and units and between the active and reserve forces. The number of agencies and units has been reduced, but the overall quality and combat capabilities of the Military Region’s armed forces have been enhanced. Most notably, the Military Region has established military zones as integral parts of the overall national defence and socio-economic development planning, integrated into the provincial planning for the 2021-2030 period and vision towards 2050; developed plans for defence works, military zones, ammunition depots, and defence industry and adjustment of land use planning for defence purposes in the 2021-2030 period; directed localities to construct combat facilities to ensure progress and invest in the construction of exercise command headquarters, shooting ranges, permanent People’s Naval Militia units, and border guard combat posts in accordance with the plan; successfully held exercises, particularly defence and civil defence exercises in association with strategic military exercises in the Central region as well as joint rescue exercises involving the armies of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia; and reorganised transport units and military hospitals in strict compliance with regulations, ensuring absolute safety, which has been recognised and highly praised by the Central Military Party Commission and the Ministry of National Defence.

Forces of Military Region 4 participate in the search and rescue exercise with the participation of militaries of three Indochina countries

In the coming years, the global and regional situation is forecasted to continue to be complex and unpredictable with intensifying strategic competition among major countries, particularly the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Domestically and within the Military Region, political and social stability will be maintained, and the economy will continue to develop, with national defence and security being effectively safeguarded. However, hostile forces, reactionaries, and political opportunists will increase their subversive activities with the “peaceful evolution” strategy and promote “self-transformation” and “self-evolution”. Unusual developments may occur due to natural disasters, storms, floods, and disease. In the face of this situation, to meet the requirements and tasks in the new context, the Military Region’s Party Committee and High Command will continue to thoroughly implement the resolutions and directives of the Party, the Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defence, especially Resolution No.230-NQ/QUTW dated April 2^nd, 2022, of the Central Military Commission on the organisation of the Vietnam People’s Army in the 2021-2030 period. The focus will be on leading and directing the construction of the Military Region’s armed forces to be “elite, compact, and strong”, with comprehensive quality and high combat power, truly serving as the core force for the entire people in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland.

First and foremost, it is necessary to strengthen the leadership and direction of Party committees and commanders at all levels in implementing the “breakthrough year in force restructuring”. This is an important content that ensures the unity of perception, ideology, and sense of responsibility of all cadres, party members, employees, and soldiers involved in the implementation process. Based on a profound grasp of the resolutions and guiding directives of the Party, the Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defence, particularly Plan No.1166/KH-QK dated 20^th May 2022, of the Military Region’s High Command on the implementation of the Ministry of National Defence’s decision and Plan No.787-KH/ĐU dated 28^th February 2023, of the Military Region’s Party Committee on the implementation of the breakthrough year in force structure adjustment, the Party committees and commanders of agencies, units, and localities need to proactively review and supplement specialised resolutions related to the leadership of tasks in force structure adjustment and develop plans and action programs to ensure tight, coherent, scientific, and suitable implementation in accordance with the characteristics and assigned functions and tasks.

The agencies, particularly the Staff of the Military Region, in coordination with the Political Department, Logistics Department, and Technical Department, should actively research and grasp the missions and situation to provide advice and assistance to the Military Region Party Committee and High Command in directing and implementing the Ministry of National Defence’s decisions on merger, dissolution, reorganisation, and force structure adjustment; survey, guide, and direct the adjustment of determination plans, combat-ready plans, and the management and use of defence land of dissolved, merged, and reorganised units and agencies according to the intended purposes; direct units in merging technical departments with logistics departments into the Logistics-Technical Department; and implement the Project on adjustment and supplementation of the planning for military-wide equipment storage warehouses (KA-10) and the Project on planning for military-wide weapons and equipment repair facilities (Project 08-KT) in accordance with the layout of each agency and unit and the defence posture of the Military Region.

Military force adjustment is a crucial, complex, and sensitive task that involves multiple levels, sectors, and units and directly impacts the thought and morale of cadres and soldiers, as well as the combat readiness and combat power of the Army. Therefore, to achieve the set goals and requirements, the Party committees and commanders at all levels need to effectively carry out ideological dissemination, education, and leadership, particularly for the directly affected units. The education content should focus on disseminating and comprehensively grasping the viewpoints of the Party and the Central Military Commission and the superiors’ guiding resolutions and instructions regarding the organisation of the Army. In this regard, the focus is to clarify the purpose, significance, and content of Resolution No.05-NQ/TW of the Politburo; Resolution No.230-NQ/QUTW of the Central Military Commission on the leadership in implementing the organisation of the Vietnam People’s Army from 2021 to 2030 and beyond; and Plan No.787-KH/ĐU, dated 28^th February 2023, of the Military Region’s Party Committee on the implementation of the breakthrough year in force adjustment. The organisation of dissemination by Party committees and commanders of agencies, units, and localities must be close, accurate in target according to regulations, and in line with requirements and tasks at each level, ensuring confidentiality and focusing on key areas. At the same time, attention must be paid to effectively promoting ideological work for cadres and soldiers, especially those directly affected by the adjustment, promptly grasping and addressing emerging issues, and ensuring unity and solidarity within each agency, unit, and the entire Military Region.

To enhance combat power and effectively implement the force adjustment, the Military Region focuses on leading and directing breakthroughs in improving the quality of training and combat readiness, creating a solid transformation in regularity building and discipline management. Based on a comprehensive grasp of the resolutions and directives of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence on training, especially Resolution No.1659-NQ/QUTW dated 20^th December 2022, of the Central Military Commission on improving the quality of training in the 2023-2030 period and beyond, Party committees and commanders at all levels continue to innovate their thinking in leading and directing training activities; urgently review and supplement targets and measures in the plans and programs for implementation of the Resolution to ensure high feasibility and relevance to the practical situation. The advisory organisations at all levels, especially the Staff, should actively monitor the situation, conduct research, and perform well in their advisory function for the Military Region’s Party Committee and High Command and direct and instruct units to promote the innovation of training activities based on the new thinking on defence and military affairs of the Party and the requirements of safeguarding the Fatherland in the new situation. Units at all levels should thoroughly grasp the situation, especially the tactics, methods, new weapons, and equipment of the enemy, as well as the characteristics of the operational areas, organisational structure, and weapons and equipment of our forces, to adjust, supplement, improve, and standardise the content, programs, and training scenarios for different objects. Accordingly, in campaign-level training, emphasis should be placed on enhancing knowledge and skills in strategy, tactics, and new forms of enemy combat for commanders and staff officers; regulations on operational and training advice; methods of organising, preparing, and conducting operations, etc. In combat training, the principles of being fundamental, practical, and solid should be adhered to, with a focus on comprehensive and in-depth training that is closely aligned with the reality, tasks, plans, and operational areas, especially defence and border, sea, and island protection combat. At the same time, efforts should be made to enhance the mobility and situational handling capabilities of each force, as well as training in the prevention and control of flood, storm, and forest fire, search and rescue, and disaster relief.

To improve the quality of training and combat readiness, agencies, units, and localities should focus on nurturing and developing a contingent of cadres at all levels with comprehensive qualifications and capacities to meet the requirements of duties and tasks; investing in the construction and effective utilisation of training grounds, practice areas, equipment, and facilities; promoting the application of information technology and simulation equipment in training and exercises; developing the Military Region School into a model of an “intelligent school accessing the fourth industrial revolution”; renovating approaches and methods of organisation and conduct of inspections, competitions, and contests at all levels; increasing irregular inspections, especially for combat readiness units, remote units, dispersed units, and units performing tasks on islands; directing the close coordination among the forces to thoroughly grasp the situation, maintain combat readiness regimes, effectively handle situations related to defence and security, and maintain the stability of the area, avoiding passivity and surprises; reviewing, supplementing, and perfecting civil defence plans and disaster response plans according to the Government’s Decree No.02/2019/NĐ-CP; proactively developing and thoroughly practicing combat readiness plans and preparations; and coordinating with forces and local Party committees, authorities, and organisations in disaster response, disease prevention, search and rescue missions.

Furthermore, the Military Region continues to lead and direct agencies and units to strengthen soldier management to create a significant change in regularity building and observance of the military discipline and state laws; make resolute efforts to prevent serious disciplinary violations that could impact combat effectiveness and the tradition and qualities of the “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers”; and continue to rigorously and effectively implement resolutions, conclusions, directives, and regulations of the Party Central Committee, Central Military Commission, and Military Region Party Committee on Party building, particularly Resolution No.21-NQ/TW, dated 16^th June 2022, of the Central Executive Committee (the 13^th Tenure) on enhancing consolidation and construction of grassroots party organisations and improving the quality of party members in the new period. Simultaneously, efforts are intensified in the inspection, supervision, and enforcement of Party discipline with an expanded scope of monitoring and priority given to key areas. Emphasis is placed on inspecting and supervising the implementation of central political tasks and organisations and individuals showing signs of disciplinary violations; improving the quality of military scientific, judiciary, legal activities, investigation, prosecution, trial, and enforcement of judgments; strengthening inspection, examination, and supervision, especially in areas prone to negative occurrences, aiming to promptly detect, rectify, and handle any misconduct (if present); and efficiently utilise resources and enhance the quality of logistics and technical work for both regular and irregular missions with priority given to combat readiness units and those operating in key areas, particularly borderlines, islands, deep zones, remote areas, etc. to contribute to enhancing the overall quality and combat power of the Military Region’s armed forces, meeting the requirements and tasks of safeguarding the Fatherland in the new situation.

Lieutenant General HA THO BINH, Commander of the Military Region